Camila Mendes Sent a Powerful Reminder About Body Positivity

Riverdale star Camila Mendes has been open in the past about her own mental health, following in the footsteps of other celebrities like Demi Lovato. Yesterday, using her Instagram to post a powerful quote about loving your body from Marya Hornbacher, author of Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, Camila opened up about her own personal journey with her body.

The inspirational quote reads, “This is it: this body is home. This is where I live and hang my hat. This is where I settle into my hips and sit easy in myself, slung together with strong muscles and bones, made gentle and forging with flesh. This body is durable, has lasted for years, hunkered down through fierce storms and allows for the peaceful erosions of age. It is like a cottage on the shore: weathered and well made, a place where a person could comfortably live. I like it here. It is my own.”

Camila posted the photo with the Hornbacher quote to her Instagram profile, discussing her personal friendship with editor and eating disorder survivor Christina Grasso, and adding that she’s learned to “appreciate the value of peer support when recovering from an eating disorder.”

The actress opened up about her mental last year, when she spoke with Byrdie and explained that she had recently started going to therapy. Camila spoke about realizing how important it is to take care of her mental health, and later posted to Instagram about how she knew it was time to get help. She wrote on Instagram that she had experienced symptoms of an eating disorder, and lived with a sister who had one. Fans responded to her initial discussion of eating disorders and mental health with a huge outpouring of love and support and the actress, who plays Veronica Lodge on Riverdale, even used her platform to then auction off a day on the set in order to raise awareness about eating disorders.

In her latest Instagram post, Camila thanks her friend Christina for co-founding a new nonprofit organization called The Chain, that “offers peer support for women in fashion & entertainment who struggle with eating disorders.”

Camila also shared more powerful thoughts about how eating disorders and images on social media affect mental health, saying, “Our minds can get so contaminated with endless images of perfection, and even if you don’t suffer from an eating disorder, it can’t hurt to incorporate a little body positivity into your routine.” The actress and body positivity advocate ended her post with a positive statement, urging readers: “Take care of yourself in every way that you can.”

If you are struggling with an eating disorder and are in need of support, please call the National Eating Disorders Association Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. For a 24-hour crisis line, text “NEDA” to 741741.